Children's Liturgy, Sunday, March 28th 2010
| PALM
SUNDAY/PASSION SUNDAY |
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| First of all today, we remember the way
Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Crowds of people welcomed him, shouting,
"Hosanna!". They rushed to collect greenery - palm trees would
be growing nearby, so they would collect those leaves - to wave. As
processed into church with Father John, we carried flowers and leaves
from our gardens.We stood around the altar for the first reading, which
described the warm welcome given to Jesus. People were glad to see him,
but soon changed their minds, wanting to get rid of him. Soon, Jesus
would be condemned to death upon a cross. That is why, each year, we
take home from church crosses made out of palms- and today is called
Palm Sunday. It is also called Passion Sunday, because people in church
hear the whole story of Jesus' "Passion"- his suffering and
dying.
Father John blessed the palms and we went for our liturgy. |
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We thought about the way Jesus would die on
Good Friday, before he rose again on the third day. Being hung on a cross
was a common way of being put to death by the Romans in those times. It
was a way of punishing criminals and those who displeased people in authority.
Those in power saw Jesus as a nuisance, because they did not understand
the "kingdom" and new life he talked of was life with God. They
could not see he did not want to take ruling power in this world.
On the cross, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them. for they know not
what they do."
Jesus had been nailed to the cross.
He had nails through his hands and his feet.
He went through all of that to show us how much we are loved by God. He
could have saved himself if he really wanted; Jesus was a man, but he
was also God. |
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It is very hard to forgive people when they
hurt you. We thought about the ways we have been hurt in our lives; the
ways we have felt pain. Sometimes it feels like sharp nails. It feels
it will never end.
We would like to remember how much we are loved. We would like to forgive
and we hope that other people would forgive us when we hurt them.
Sometimes, though, we can only ask God to forgive people, because we still
hurt too much to forgive them ourselves, without help.
Sometimes, we cannot accept bad things that have happened, either, unless
God helps us. |
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Today, we gave our hurts and pain to Jesus.
We thanked him for all he suffered and we made him a present of all our
little hurts and our deeper pain, remembering he longs for us to feel
better. We believe that God's love is bigger than all hurts, but maybe
need help to know it.
We drew round our hands and wrote on them the ways we have been hurt in
our lives. We nailed our paper hands to Jesus' cross.
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| We are giving new hands and feet to Mr. Never-Sees-The-Good-In-Anything.
You will see on Easter Day! |
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